Joel in Japan

At the end of January I finally took some leave and went to another country. Luckily my sister Kelli lives in Japan and it was her birthday so it was the perfect time - I even had the great honor of being Kelli's first visitor without jet lag! Since Kelli was working during the first few days I ventured out to Kamakura and Yokohama on my lonesome. My first action was visiting the Great Buddha in Kamakura.

I think there was field trip or something because there were hoards of Japanese students everywhere. This picture makes it look like it was closed just for me though.

After wandering around for a little bit I went back to Atsugi for the night. Most of the day was me trying to get my JR pass sorted out and also a whole lotta me standing around in the subway super confused at what was happening. The subway is like a human ant colony with hoards of people going everywhere but eventually I was able to understand the chaos.

The next day started off with me going to Yokohama to check out China Town and get some highly recommended dumplings.

Except I went way too freakin' early so it was completely deserted. I decided to kill some time by wandering around the city and seeing the sites. Then I came across this place.

Happy science is gonna be my go to health service in the future. After walking around few a few hours I headed back to see if China Town was opening up.

Still deserted. I was pretty tired of walking around for hours so I decided to head back to Atsugi and meet up with Kelli to go to Tokyo. After a few train rides I arrived in mega city 1 (Judge Dredd reference... get it?!) Seriously though Tokyo seemed to sprawl for hundreds of miles.

After checking into our hotel we headed out to see a robot show. It was the greatest thing I have ever seen in my entire life. Up to this point I thought Japan was pretty tame; I was expecting robots and weird anime characters everywhere but it was completely normal. But this robot show - this is what Japan is all about baby!

Alley leading to the show!

Outside of the theater. Girls with giant boobs riding in robots of girls... with giant boobs.

After getting our tickets we were sent to a waiting room. It was extremely shiny.

It even had a robot dino that reacted to you petting it!

Then the show started. Here is just one picture to whet your appetite.

I have video but I didn't feel like putting in the effort to upload it to the blog haha.

After the show Kelli and I checked out the tech district (Akihabara) at night. It was pretty dead but you could see the skeleton of awesomeness. They are interested in foreign buyers!

After that we made a quick stop at the party district (Roppongi) where we were harassed by Nigerians. Picture below. We were pretty tired at this point and went back to the hotel to crash.

The next day we took the bullet train to Kyoto. Kyoto is the yin to Tokyo's yang - by that I mean Kyoto is an older city that has more culture and an old fashioned feel to it compared to Tokyo's fast pace. The first order of business was checking out The Thousand Torii Gates.

Kelli and I did not realize that it was a 3 mile hike up a hill but we gutted it out anyway. Along the way were lots of shrines. For more information on the history of the gates you can check out her blog since this one is running kind of long.

After the torii gates we went to visit the Golden Pavilion. This place was super peaceful and I wish I could have seen what it was like back in the day.

The last stop of the day was at Nijo Castle which was the seat of power of the Tokugawa Sogunate for a few hundred years. One thing that was interesting about it was the nightingale floor. This is a special floor that squeaks when you walk on it to make it harder for people to sneak around.

I originally was going to go to Hiroshima after Kyoto but by then it was pretty late in the day and I didn't want to spend only a few hours there. I will have to make a return trip sometime soon and see more of the country.

Extra picture of Mt. Fuji-san on the bullet train ride back home and a Banana King. No idea where to put them so here they go.

That's all for now! I leave you with "A day in the life of Cat".

Tweed's Cave Rematch

This weekend I finally found Tweed's Cave. You may remember the post a few months back where I attempted to find it but instead got lost in the jungle. Well it turns out that at a certain part on the path there is a tree with a ribbon around it and you follow the ribbons through the jungle. Kind of like the dead marshes in Lord of the Rings; stay on the path, don't follow the lights! I spaced out for a little bit and and got lost in the jungle for a good 10 minutes but thankfully we eventually found a tree with a ribbon and got back home safely.

For those of you that have forgotten George Tweed was a radioman stationed on Guam during WW2. When the Japanese invaded he ran into the jungle with a few other sailors and hid from the Japanese for over two years (the other sailors were caught and executed).

This is a picture of the watering hole he went to to near the cave. After climbing to his hideout I have no idea how he didn't fall and break his leg or something.

Beginning of the hike up the hill. It was a bunch of mossy rocks and eventually it got to a point where there's a rope and you have to climb up the cliff. It definitely looked like if you fell you would probably die but the desire for a blog post overcame my fear of falling and seriously injuring myself.

Action shot of Ben using the rope.

Tweed's Cave. It's more like two slabs of rock. No idea why they call it a "cave".

View from Tweed's Cave. This is where he would probably sit all day everyday staring out at the ocean looking for American ships.

That's all for now folks!

Tarzan Falls

Last weekend I went to Tarzan Falls with David and a bunch of people from his submarine.  It was a good 1.5 mile hike to the falls in these trails that looks like they were used by four wheelers and stuff. It wasn't too bad of a hike and once we finally got to the falls I saw a white dog that looked like it was some sort of forest guardian. I got a quick picture before he ran away into the jungle.

Anyway, when you get to the falls you are actually on top of them and in order to get to the bottom you have to climb down the rocks. There was even a part where you hold onto this thin rope and climb down slick rocks hoping it doesn't snap and plummet you to your death.

Two pictures of the top of the falls.

David looking down the falls.

Another picture of David and friend admiring the view. 

Almost there!

This is the part where you grab a rope and go down. The water is not very deep so if you fall it is gonna hurt.

Action photo of David using the rope.

Once we got to the bottom it was time to take some sweet pics of us around it!

Luckily we didn't have to use the rope to climb back up the falls. In fact there was a path that was 10 times safer that takes you back up to the top that the guide didn't feel like letting us know about. Overall it was pretty cool though.

Double Reef Beach

This past weekend I finally found the elusive double reef beach.  In order to get there you basically have to walk through jungle following tape markers that past people put on trees to guide you. It was a good 45 minute hike and it was a lot of fun. The only part that made me a little nervous was crossing the "limestone forest" which is essentially a bunch of algae covered rock. I took a picture this time!

Yeah... I walked on that. There were a few times I thought I was gonna trip and die but I somehow managed to get through.

Eventually on the path there is point where one direction takes you to Tweed's cave and the other to Double Reef beach.  We didnt go to Tweed's cave but since I now know where it is you can expect an update relatively soon. Anyway, after going through the jungle we popped out on this tiny strip of secluded beach.

We set up camp and I got out my snorkeling gear.  I heard that Double reef had the best snorkeling on island and they were telling the truth.  Basically the beach has two reefs and between them is a good 30-40 feet deep area.  It was crazy to be skimming across the first reef and then suddenly there is a straight drop where you are looking down at fields of coral and schools of fish. Unfortunately I don't have an underwater camera so you will just have to settle for these other two pictures I took of the beach.

I only snorkeled for a short time because I didn't want to completely exhaust myself and not be able to make it back.  It also rained the entire time I was swimming so I was completely soaking wet for the hike back.

Short post, but I did go to a place called Tarzan Falls this weekend which was pretty neat. I will update the blog soon with that one. Lastly, here is a picture of David with a Chamarro Elvis.